Super Rugby Semi-finals team by team preview

There are just four teams remaining in Super Rugby after the quarter finals and at the end of the weekend there will be two teams remaining.

Both of the Semi-Finals will be played on Saturday and the Super Rugby Final will take place next Saturday.

The Super Rugby Final will either be held in Johannesburg, Christchurch, or Wellington.

Crusaders v Chiefs Super Rugby Preview

Seven time Super Rugby champions the Crusaders host two time champions the Chiefs in the first of the two Semi-finals.

The Crusaders and Chiefs have already met once this year and the Crusaders won the match 31-24 in Suva.

Out of the last five matches between the Crusaders and Chiefs the Crusaders have won one. Overall the Crusaders have played the Chiefs 30 times and they have won 17 matches and lost 13.

On home soil the Crusaders have played the Chiefs 13 times and won 8 matches and lost five. That gives the a record of winning 62% of their matches.

The average score when the Crusaders play the Chiefs on home soil is : Crusaders 28 Chiefs 19.

While the Crusaders have home advantage for this match they have also had the benefit of being at home for the last two weeks. In contrast the Chiefs played the Brumbies in the final round and then had to fly to Cape Town South Africa for their quarter-final and for this week’s match they had to fly back to New Zealand.

The Lions host the Hurricanes in the second Super Rugby Semi-final and this match is a rematch of last year’s Super Rugby final.

This match will be the first time that the Lions have faced a New Zealand team this year due to the draw. Ironically the last time the Lions faced a NZ team it was the final which the Hurricanes won 20-3.

The match was the Hurricanes eighth successive victory over the Lions as the Johannesburg franchise last beat the Wellington side in 2007. `

Overall the Lions have played the Hurricanes 18 times in Super rugby history and they have won 3 matches and lost 15.

The average score when the Lions play the Hurricanes is : Lions 22 Hurricanes 31. In Johannesburg when the teams meet the average score is : Lions 25 Hurricanes 29.

The last time these teams faced each other in Johannesburg was last year in April and the Hurricanes won the match 17-50.

The Lions finished the season on top of the standings and while they could only play who they were drawn to play they had an easier draw than the Hurricanes. The Lions Africa 2 Conference was not nearly as competitive as the Hurricanes New Zealand Conference. As a result the Hurricanes should be a more hardened and tested team.

A concern for the Lions is that they needed a late penalty to scrape home last week against the Sharks who finished the season as the last placed qualifier.
The Hurricanes will give the Lions a considerably sterner test.

The Lions will have home advantage but the Hurricanes have had an extra day of rest as they played the Brumbies on Friday last week.

The Lions have not lost at home this season while the Hurricanes have not lost to away from home to a non New Zealand team.

Ok so next weeks preview will look like this”Lions did well to come back into the game last week against the Canes, but i wonder of the yellow card had anything to do with it. This week they are up against a different beast in the form of the Crusaders. Even though the Lions will enjoy home advantage i still feel like the Crusaders will edge it by 6 points. Lions had to travel for this one. “